For the past four years, the World Economic Forum has studied the gender gap - that is, the amount of resources dedicated to boys and girls and women's opportunities to fully participate in society - in over 100 countries, then ranked them. (In 2009, the Index included data from 134 nations. At least 12 of 14 indicators used for the Index must be available in order for a country to be included.) The goal, according to the 2009 Global Gender Gap Report, is:

1 Man, older and less educated than the woman 1 Woman, at least 5 years younger (be sure to check freshness date!) and smarter than the man 0 Couples of the same sex 0 Previous divorces 0 Cougars Place man and woman in same home. Stir. Voila! Enjoy your happy, lasting marriage!

Ever since the HPV prevention drug Gardasil hit the market in 2006, I've been very suspicious. The marketing campaign says that it is the "only vaccine for cervical cancer," but what Gardasil actually protects against are some strains of HPV, a sexually transmitted disease that may cause cervical cancer. This is very misleading, not to mention that it is possible to prevent HPV infections through safe sex practices. What also got my dander was how quickly it got pushed on the public.

In the current discussion and debate about health care reform proposals the methods of paying for, administering and delivering universal basic health care benefits in other countries are often raised as models of either what we should emulate or what we should fear adopting.

I was chomping down my breakfast cereal and reading a Newsweek article by Tracy McNicoll called Pollen Nation about the honeybees of Paris. Normally, I'm not obsessed with honeybees or Paris, but this article got my attention. It talked about a man named Olivier Darné, who puts beehives around Paris.

Near the end of the school year, a 38 year old teacher was arrested in the suburbs of Chicago, charged with having sex with a former student (who is 16 years old). In addition to the inappropriate sexual relationship, the teacher also supposedly supplied marijuana to the gang in which the student belonged, and possibly even joined the gang. After the arrest, the teacher was allowed to return to the home in which the teacher's spouse and two young daughters resided.

On Monday, US Pres.

Anne Frank would have been 80 years old on June 12th.  How ironic that within days of this anniversary, once again Jews were attacked - this time at the Holocaust Museum, a place designed to memorialize the victims, including Anne, of the Holocaust itself.  It's an ironic reminder of what all our mothers  - and most of our rabbis -- told us -- that there will always be people who hate Jews and that they will always find ways to try to hurt us - singly or in great numbers.

(A follow-up from my post on May 7th)

In early 2005, after Bush was "re-elected" (it's hard to get "re-elected" if one was not elected in the first place), I sought to channel my distress into positive action. Through the miracle of the internet, I came across author Katha Pollitt's articles in The Nation about a nonprofit organization that helped low income women access abortion services. Through NNAF, I found the Haven Coalition, a network of volunteers who open their homes to women forced to travel to New York City to exercise their legal right to an abortion. (This is not as strange as it sounds: the Alan Guttmacher Institute reports that, "Eighty-seven percent of all U.S. counties lacked an abortion provider in 2005; 35% of women live in those counties.") Immediately, I requested an interview, and through that, my friendship with Haven's coordinator, Mara, was born.

"Hey, I just found out today is International Women's Day," Julie, my friend since the 4th grade, emailed me on Sunday. "Why don't I feel more special today?" Although International Women's Day was founded in the US nearly 100 years ago, many Americans these days are as unaware of the event as my generally wise and politically savvy friend. However, women all over the world celebrated the day in different ways.

I was planning to write another post related to the election, and then this news crossed my inbox: The lead detective assigned to investigate journalist Chauncey Bailey's killing ignored evidence linking Yusuf Bey IV, former leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery, to a role in the killing and interfered in two other unrelated felony cases involving Bey IV, according to an investigation by the Chauncey Bailey Project.